I think some light may be shed on this issue if we look back in the
annals of anthro for precedence, to attempt to at least patially discern
from whence arose this loaded THINGEE?

I have found the oft quoted Durkheim to have this to offer:

Emile Durkheim, Rules of Sociological Method,

"In spite of all these doctrines, social phenomena are things and ought
to be treated as things. To demonstrate this proposition , it is
unnecessary to philosophize on their nature and to discuss the analogies
they present with the phenomena of lower realms of existence....All that
is given, all that is subject to observation, has thereby the character
of a thing(27)."

Ookaay...Hey he's the Durk! He says so! In fact on page 37 he even says:

"We need, rather, to formulate entirely new concepts, appropriate to the
requirements of science and expressed in an approprite terminology."